The present invention relates to polyurethane molded articles prepared from recycled polyols, a process for their production and their use in the motor vehicle, furniture, machine and equipment manufacturing industries.
Molded polyurethane articles are extensively used in industry, e.g., in the car manufacturing industry, in the form of polyurethane structural foams and as polyurethane sandwich components. Polyurethane molded articles are generally used in sandwich constructions when producing high-quality structural components for the motor vehicle and bodywork industry, in particular in the interior of vehicles. In principle, there are two prior art processes which are used for the production of such sandwich components.
In the "filling" process, two half-shells (outer layers) are made first. These half-shells are inserted into a mold and the cavity between the shells is filled with a polyurethane foam.
In the envelope construction process, a core made of polyurethane foam is initially introduced into a mold. This core is then covered with a suitable encasing material made of, e.g., a fiber-reinforced plastic such as an epoxy resin or an unsaturated polyester resin.
Polyol compositions recovered from polyurethane or polyurea waste have rarely been used for the production of polyurethane molded articles such as high-quality structural components for the vehicle and bodywork industry.